Letter: Merri Dee's CPI data is biased

I found the column located on the editorial page by Merri Dee, State President of AARP Illinois, to be misleading (“My View: Don’t cut veterans’ benefits as part of budget deal”).

I found the column located on the editorial page by Merri Dee, State President of AARP Illinois, to be misleading (“My View: Don’t cut veterans’ benefits as part of budget deal”).

She said that "chained CPI (Consumer Price Index)" would decrease benefits for veterans by over $3,000 per year in the next 30 years. But she did not how much these benefits would be increasing during these years. Her "decrease" is an estimate of the difference between CPI, as calculated now, and how it might change with a revision of the formula. The "My View" piece tried to imply that benefits would actually decrease every year.

Yes, this is a part of the political debate in Washington on how to control the ever-growing government entitlement spending. Just like all advocacy groups, AARP wants spending decreases in all areas, except where their constituents (the retired) are concerned.

The Washington Post Editorial Board and others, including the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles Commission, support "chained CPI." Labor unions, in addition to AARP, are generally against any restraint on Consumer Price Index growth.

I do not know how the debate will end, but I object to the biased data presented by Ms. Dee.

—Loyd J. Wollstadt, Rockford

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